COA - Council On Accreditation

	Human Resources Management

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

Administration and Management Narrative (PA-HR):

UPDATE: TABLE OF EVIDENCE - 12/15/11

The Administration and Management Narrative should provide an overview of key practices that contribute to the performance and productivity of your agency. The Narrative supports, but should not duplicate, evidence provided elsewhere in your self-study.

The Public Agency Human Resources Administration and Management Narrative should provide the Peer Review Team with a clear, concise description of how your agency's human resources practices advance and sustain your agency’s mission and strategic goals.

Purpose Standard: Human Resources (PA-HR)

A stable, qualified workforce contributes effectively and efficiently to consumer satisfaction and positive service delivery results.

Provide responses to the following questions that address your agency’s achievement of the Human Resource Management Purpose Standard. Highlight any obstacles and innovations, if any, in each of your responses.

1. Describe how your agency manages its human resources. Address the following:

Does your agency have an HR department? If not is there a dedicated HR position, or is human resource management the responsibility of an individual with additional non-HR responsibilities? Does your agency rely on another government entity for some its human resources functions? If so which ones?
If the standards cannot be applied entirely to the agency because another entity has responsibility for managing its human resources, explain exactly how HR management occurs, and how the standards are being met.

2. Describe any challenges that your agency may have faced with regard to recruiting qualified staff. Has your agency implemented any solutions that have proven effective?

(e.g., there is a shortage of MSW's in your area, or civil service requirements have made it difficult to pay for direct service staff with advanced degrees for your foster care program...)

3. Provide 2-3 examples of how your agency has recruited staff that are culturally and ethnically representative of the service population.

4. Describe any challenges that your agency may have faced and any solutions that have proven effective with regard to staff retention.

5. Provide any additional information that would increase the Peer Team’s understanding of how your agency's human resource practices contribute effectively and efficiently to consumer satisfaction and positive service delivery results.

Attachments:

A list of administrative personnel that includes: a) name; b) title; c) degree held and/or other credentials; d) FTE; e) length of service at the agency; and f) time in current position. Please organize the list by department.
An agency chart that includes all the agency’s departments or divisions and programs.
All COA-approved NA Requests.
A list of all NAs applicable to your agency provided within the standards.

Note:

Agencies being accredited for the first time: Please provide information for the last two years.

Agencies being reaccredited: Please provide information for the period since the last accreditation review.


	Self-Study Documents	On-Site Documents	On-Site Activities
PA-HR 1 Work Environment*	Copies of legal counsel, administrative agency, or court opinions that indicate personnel practices comply with applicable laws and regulations Discrimination prohibition policy Harassment policy	Personnel Manual Relevant meeting minutes See nepotism policy	Interview: Agency head HR manager Supervisory personnel Direct service personnel
PA-HR 2 Human Resources Planning*		Assessment of workforce needs Analysis of workforce composition EEO plan (as necessary) Documentation of actions taken For Networks: Annual network-wide analysis report	Interview: Agency head HR manager Supervisory personnel
PA-HR 3 Recruitment and Selection*	Recruitment and selection procedures Enabling legislation/regulations pertaining to background checks Policy and procedures regarding background checks For Networks: Credentialing and verification procedures	Job descriptions (agency head, CFO or equivalent, senior managers, and sample of direct service personnel) Personnel records Personnel Manual Legal permissibility regarding the consideration of protected characteristics in personnel recruitment and selection Policy and procedures describing the use of volunteers For Networks: Individual provider and contractor files, re: required information and verifications of current licenses or credentials (PA-HR 3.06/07) Records of actions to approve practitioners (PA-HR 3.06/07)	Interview: Agency head HR manager Senior managers Supervisory personnel Direct service personnel Students as applicable Volunteers Personnel responsible for recruitment and supervision of volunteers For Networks: Interview: Committee chair or person in charge of the credentialing process Managing entity staff members responsible for verifications Clinical supervisors of selected non-accredited contracted providers to verify provision of supervision
PA-HR 4 Satisfaction and Retention*	Personnel grievance policy and procedures Aggregate personnel satisfaction and retention information	Meeting minutes and/or schedules Personnel Manual Methods/protocols employed by the agency to obtain personnel participation/input and for providing feedback to personnel about their recommendations/suggestions Grievance reports Relevant minutes related to retention rates and improvement action, if necessary	Interview: Agency head HR manager PQI manager Personnel at all levels
PA-HR 5 Human Resource Practices*	Applicable regulations Table of Contents for Personnel Manual	Personnel Manual Personnel records State/civil service title compensation scale and rules	Interview: Agency head HR manager Supervisory personnel Personnel at all levels EEO officer (if applicable)
PA-HR 6 Performance Review	Performance review forms/templates or description of ongoing review process	Personnel Manual Personnel records Contract policy and procedures Contracts	Interview: HR manager Supervisory personnel Direct service personnel Personnel at various levels Contract administrators Independent contractors
PA-HR 7 Personnel Records	Sample of five job descriptions (of different jobs throughout the agency)	Personnel records Procedures regarding access to personnel records For Networks: Review the managing entity's records for independent practitioners	Interview: HR manager Supervisory personnel Direct service personnel and support personnel

Fundamental Practice Standards:


Essential Life and Safety	Health and Welfare	Client Rights
PA-HR 3.03	PA-HR 1.02

RELATED FILES


	CONSUMER The individual, family, group, or community that seeks or receives services.


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	ADMINISTRATION The personnel responsible for management functions of the organization, including fiscal management, human resources, and service delivery. Such personnel determine organizational goals, acquire and allocate resources to carry out a program, coordinate activities toward goal achievement, and monitor, evaluate, and make needed changes in processes and procedures to improve the likelihood of goal achievement. The term is synonymously used with MANAGEMENT.


	PRACTICE Established actions or ways of proceeding in the regular performance of organizational duties. Policies and procedures often guide practice.


	PERFORMANCE A measure of how well an organizational system provides services to consumers. Performance is often based on key indicators, such as rates of service, cost per consumer, degree of satisfaction with services, and extent of consumer access to services.


	PUBLIC AGENCY An agency under government auspices. A public agency is typically governed and operated by a public entity (e.g., a state, a county, or a department of the federal government. Public agencies seeking accreditation will utilize the Public version of COA's 8th Edition Standards, found at http://www.coastandards.org/standards.php?navView=public.


	HUMAN RESOURCES A department or service that is responsible for recruiting, hiring, and retaining personnel and monitoring the regulations and services applicable to a particular organization.


	PEER REVIEW An evaluation process in which professionals from similar backgrounds review the work of their associates.


	ADVANCED DEGREE A degree at the Master's level or beyond from an institution of higher education. An advanced degree does not include a Bachelor's degree, an associate's degree, or an educational certificate.


	PROGRAM A system of services offered by an organization. For example, an organization providing a mental health service may offer several mental health programs to different populations, e.g., a mental health program for adolescent teens. The word "program" can be used interchangeably with the word "service" or to describe specific programs.


	MANAGEMENT See ADMINISTRATION


	SERVICE POPULATION A group or target population that the organization's services are designed to serve in accord with its mission, and which includes the organization's service recipients. An organization's service population may be defined by geographic location, specific problems or needs, religion, ethnicity, culture, or other factors.


	ACCREDITATION The formal evaluation of an organization against accepted criteria or standards. A professional society, non-governmental organization, or a governmental agency may conduct accreditation activities. A COA-accredited organization has undergone a period of rigorous self-study and is capable of providing programs and services that meet or exceed COA standards.


	AGENCY HEAD See CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER


	PERSONNEL The body of employees and/or volunteers that carries out the organization's tasks under the organization's administration and/or supervision. This definition does not include foster parents who are specifically referenced in relevant standards


	ASSESSMENT An evaluation, which utilizes professional expertise and skills in the collection and analysis of data to understand and describe the nature of service needs of an individual, family, or group. Assessment, as in needs assessment, is also used to determine priorities of program planning and service development for the organization as a whole. See also DIAGNOSIS.


	BACKGROUND CHECK The review of an individual's personal information typically performed by or at the request of an employer, which may include verification of educational credentials or employment experience, as well as an examination of the individual's criminal records, driving records, licensing records, and civil abuse or neglect history.


	JOB DESCRIPTION Explicit obligations and specific tasks required of personnel as a condition of employment. Such descriptions are in writing and may include educational, experiential, and skill requirements associated with the job.


	SAMPLE A portion or representative percentage of a greater whole.


	VOLUNTEER An individual who performs services for an organization for civic, charitable, or humanitarian reasons, without promise, expectation, or receipt of compensation for services rendered. Such service must be offered freely and without pressure or coercion, direct or implied, from an employer. If the individual is otherwise employed by the same employer for which s/he volunteers, the individual cannot volunteer to perform the same type of services that s/he is paid to perform as an employee.


	SUPERVISION Assumption of responsibility for directly overseeing and evaluating the work or work products of personnel within an organization. Also includes inspecting the act or process of accomplishing a function or activity.


	CLINICAL The study, assessment, and diagnosis of the client situation followed by direct treatment to help the client achieve prescribed goals.


	PROTOCOLS Instruments and procedures used to accomplish a particular goal, activity, or purpose.


	CONTRACT A formal written agreement between two or more parties that specifies the services, space, or products to be provided in exchange for some form of compensation. Also known as "purchase of service arrangement."


	INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR An independently employed individual who contracts with an organization to do a piece of work according to his/her own methods and is subject to an employer's control only as to end product or final result of the work, not as to the means whereby it is to be accomplished.